All language subtitles for The Last Broadcast - [Divx - ENG]1998.xD {PiViZZ}

I'd come to this project with many of
the same assumptions that you have -

concerning the Jersey double
murders and the guilt of Jim Suerd.

His characterization is a troubled young
man, responsible for a spree of horrific,

ritualistic homicides in the Pine
Barrens. The question in my mind was why?

Why would a man commit such crimes?
After reviewing hours of archived footage

generated by Steven Avkast and Locus
Wheeler, the hosts of Fact or Fiction,

I've been forced to change my perspective.
the question now for me is what?

What really happened that night
and is Jim Suerd truly responsible?

Ironically, in the
course of this project,

Jim Suerd has died in prison
under mysterious causes.

His death will forever shroud
the reconciliation of this case.

As they said on fact
or fiction, you decide.

Nine-one-one, what
is your emergency?

My name is Jim Stewart Suerd.

I just hitchhiked here

from from the middle of pine
barrens and I can't seem to get -

I can't seem to find the people
that I was in the Pine Barrens with -

And I was camping with them
last night doing a project

Are you lost?

I'm not lost. I'm just trying - I can't
find the people who drove me here and -

I looked around for him and I went back
to the site where we had parked and they're

not at the van and they're nowhere to be
found like I don't know where they are.

Their vehicle is still there?

The vehicle's still there and I had to

hitchhike to this payphone.

How far are you from
the vehicle right now?

I'm about five five, somewhere you know
five-ten miles from it I don't know.

Okay, Jim. We'll send someone out.

Yeah it would be a good idea I
got a really bad feeling about it.

You might want to send somebody
out quickly ever bad feeling...

WBRK time it is five o'clock. It's time for
that afternoon drive that you love so much.

Hey, guess who made missing reports?
It's those hosts from Fact or Fiction.

Missing. Ha. Bob, you know those guys gonna be showing up
sometime in the next day saying, "Surprise did you miss us?"

Let's go to the phones and
we'll ask you. Do you miss them?

We have found bodies. At this
time we don't know who they are,

or how many we have found.

We cannot assume at this time that it is

the Fact or Fiction crew.

At this time, we have arrested Jim Suerd

for the murders of Rein
Clackin and Locus Wheeler.

Behind me is a house where Jim Suerd

resided until his arrest
nearly seven months ago.

Inside, amongst his dirty laundry, blood evidence was
found, linking him to the grisly Fact or Fiction murders.

Today, Jim's own life hangs in the
balance as jurors decide his fate.

I had heard of the
Factor or Fiction murders.

They were big news for
a period of one year,

and then like so many things
in today's fast-paced world,

were forgotten.

I was intrigued by how this case,
this story, was so well documented.

How, in spite of the remote
location of the murders,

and the rural nature of
the people prosecuting Jim,

that these were murders
of a high tech age.

I was intrigued by the fact that the four
individuals were indeed children of a digital age.

Mostly though, I wondered why the man named Jim
Suerd would commit such horrendous acts of violence.

This is Johnny,

and Locus

and we are live in the
Pine Barrens where tonight

we are doing a first-ever, internet
broadcast, cable, ham radio - broadcast

all live, all real

and we are doing it with the
help of a psychic and a sound man.

who has the ability to record sounds
from other worlds, otherworldly sounds.

Yeah, that's right, Steven. We're here
in the Pine Barrens southern New Jersey

live and direct, coming right at you
in your living room, first-ever web

simulcast cable, cast and everybody is on
the edge of their seat and I know you are,

because I am and I'm sure Steven is too.

A little later we're gonna
be showing you the campsite,

but right now we're gonna
do a little recapping,

and you're gonna see some tape
of the history of the legend -

of the Pine Barrens
and the Jersey Devil.

They actually lived their
show, Fact or Fiction.

Here's this real eerie
circumstances that come the play

And they were actually
the victims of it.

He had the opportunity.

It appears as if he had the motive.

He did lure those people up
there in a in a veil of secrecy.

I would say yeah he fits the profile.

Who was Jim Suerd?

The answer proved more
difficult than I imagined.

His mother had died four
months before the murders,

His father, five years before.

The only two people that I was able to
speak with that knew him personally were his

landlady, Joyce Dryer and a childhood
psychologist named Dr. Dale Orstall.

I was sort of a father figure to him, I
feel. Sort of a surrogate father, if you will.

He didn't talk a whole
lot about his family life

but one of the things I know

is that his father left them when he was
very young, ran off with another woman.

He had few friends if
any. Very reclusive.

I remember him being quite a loner.

He seemed to stay in his room
quite a bit when he wasn't at work.

And the computer seemed to be
a highlight in his in his life.

With the advent of the Internet,

of course he got into that
years after I I was seeing him.

It wasn't even available
I don't think at the time

It opened up a whole new
world for a guy like Jim.

Often he would be on
the internet with people

and as we know the horrible situation that
has come up because of the internet fiasco,

with him being blamed for these murders.

The internet was the first interests that would
attach him to the Fact or Fiction television show.

The second interest
was a bit more obscure.

Jim had this fascination for magic.

I mean a true fascination
- I mean he like I told you he was very reclusive

so I believe he must have spent
countless hours in his room alone

working on tricks.

And he used to come in and
start the sessions and he had to

show me a new trick and often was a
simple card trick but very quickly he

built skills and became
very proficient in magic.

The internet and magic
- both interests generally considered harmless.

Both interests that could
have a sinister edge to them.

Either way, it was a combination that virtually sealed
his fate in meeting Steven Avkast and Locus Wheeler,

The hosts of Fact or Fiction.

Welcome to Fact or Fiction.

Welcome to Fact or Fiction. Yes we are
rolling. We are on we are ready to go.

Locus you joker, you knew
it all along that we were on.

Yeah welcome to our new show, well actually
it's not a new show, it's got a new name.

Thanks to everybody out there who
helped us come up with this great name,

Fact or Fiction

That's right.

Fact or Fiction was one of those fluke successes
that no television producer would ever predict.

Short on production value,
talent and execution,

It maintained a following of youth probably more
amused by its Kitsch value than anything else.

Steven Avkast, the creator of
Fact or Fiction is remembered.

Steven... I always got bad bad vibes about Steven,
you know he always came in here with this you

know attitude that you know he always
doing is making a little cable show.

I mean, nobody ever goes anywhere
with this stuff. But he had this idea

he was destined for stardom
and was gonna be rich, you know

millions of dollars and you know he
basically had that that big you know

director stereotype that you think
of you, know, you think of the big

Hollywood directors and I mean he
really just had to put it in perspective.

Steven's longtime friend, Locus
Wheeler, was the co-host of the show.

Their pairing was like oil and water.

Locus, I think,

he and Steven were having problems getting
along sometimes but I think I I think

Locus, he knew what he was doing. I mean
with this he knew it was just a little

cable show and I think he
was just in it for the fun.

Somehow, Steven, a misguided egomaniac
and Locus, a sardonic slacker,

managed to keep turning out
shows for the better part of 1995.

The ideas were slim.

However, they did latch onto
one idea that intrigued many.

We're also doing something new. We are on IRC
tonight. and we have joined... IRC is in the house.

You can say that, I'm
saying it's swingin'

Well I'll have to say one
idea they came up with,

it was actually
- well at first it was pretty cool but it got to be pretty freaky too...

They came up with this idea, you know
how most TV shows will have like call ins.

where people call in the phone and talk
- well, they tie this into the internet

through IRC chat, except, so
people could like, you know

ask questions on the show - but they rigged
up some sort of text-to-speech converter so

like whatever they typed in was actually
set on the show like it was a voice.

It was this idea that provided the impetus for what
would ironically give Steven the fame he so craved.

By the fall of 1995, the one joke
television show was losing popularity.

By November, the show was
about to self-destruct.

Everybody had this sense.

Once again, Steven in his delinquency
and procrastination has made it

so we are too late to
find the snow angel.

At this desperate time, Steven
turned to viewer suggestions,

one of which would
take hold in his mind.

It provided the seedling with which Steven
hoped to rebuild the show's popularity.

you know we had a call we have an IRC
come in and it's real eerie voice I mean

it drove me nuts. I almost couldn't
stand this after a while because just

hearing this voice like "hello,
why don't you do a piece on..."

Why don't you do a show
about the Jersey Devil?

Steven's idea was to do a first-ever
live broadcast of Fact or Fiction.

It would be broadcast simultaneously
to cable television and the Internet.

The promotion's began immediately.

And with ratings dropping
in an ever-increasing speed,

The concept was implemented immediately.

This Jersey Devil cablecast, I knew it wasn't gonna work. I
mean these guys couldn't even make a halfway decent TV Show.

Suddenly they want to jump into doing you
know big time live from the Pine Barrens

and have radio and Internet
and this and that and,

I knew it was gonna be fiasco. I didn't
really think was gonna end up like it did but -

I knew it wasn't gonna look pretty.

Since the show was going to
air from a remote location,

Steven hastily looked
for people who help.

A former employer of his,
Sam woods, was approached.

This is the room of Sam
woods. I used to cut his grass.

He's a filmmaker

and he used to do soap operas and

we're gonna ask him if he
wants to direct the show...

Because I think he'd be perfect and he's
a name and that would that good for us.

So I've had to talk to Locus and try to

convince him about but he's going for it... and
here they come so, I'm going to turn it down.

Steven... that's right.

And I'm Locus. Nice to meet you.

Well they say that up to up to 50,000 people
could possibly be watching at any time,

but they don't know exactly how many but

but we're selling lots of t-shirts.

So that's a good sign I think.

Anyway we have this idea we want
to taking this like direction

where it's gonna become much bigger
and it'll be really cool if you

could you know help us out; if you could
direct the show. I know that you used to

direct soap operas.

Network soaps.

This union of cable access show and former
Network soap director never made sense to anyone.

Though it was later discovered that
Steven was paying Sam out of his own pocket

in an act of desperation
to save Fact or Fiction.

We're in business
yeah... yeah this is cool.

Sam Woods, a once successful
television soap director

became one of the people I would
question about these events.

In stark contrast to his work,

meeting him was another road sign
on my travel into a surreal world.

Well, this devil hunt
thing never appealed to me.

We're getting into a pretty
flaky area there, you know?

I think the kids were they were
asking for it with that one.

Not the kind of not the kind of
work I do, you know what I mean?

Not what I do.

For the internet end,
Jay McDowell was enlisted.

Well, they came to me with a
seedling idea they said you know

we want it we want to use some of this
technology you've been using for teleconferencing

for video conferencing and we want to, you
know, we want to turn this into a broadcasting.

They had heard some talk about it they
had seen some sites that were trying to

do some stuff like that, so they wanted
something like that they wanted to do it

a live a live thing rather than like,
you know, streaming canned video.

They wanted to actually broadcast
and compress it all live.

So they basically just came to me with that seedling
of an idea and I had to figure out, you know,

the technical aspects of how to
make it happen, and make it real and

you know, kind of the packaging for it what
it was really gonna be in the final product.

Steven and Locus decided that they needed
additional help at the actual location.

They searched vaguely for
a sound man and a guide

and on December 7,
1995, worlds collided.

Okay, we're at Rein's and we've come today to
meet him in hopes that he'll be able to help us

out on our trip to the Pine Barrens.
Basically Rein is an audio whiz and

supposeBly he's been able to document
- supposeDly he's been able to document

you know paranormal occurrences on tape.
So that's what we're gonna see today.

We're also going to be meeting
Jim, who does some psychic things

And we'll see, you know. Hopefully these guys
will fit the bill and we'll be able to go down to

the Pine Barrens with them, you
know. Could use the extra help.

Is that good? yeah you got enough?

I hope this damn mic
works. You ready? okay.

Remember, play it cool. Play it cool.

is this gonna blow us
this airplane sound?

Come one.

Steven, this is Rein.

right yeah I'm, I'm Locus. Locus?

So you just taped us?

Yeah, I guess so accidentally.

So do you have a surveillance setup?

Well, for the time being I did.
This used to be a sound studio.

I think maybe Jim has arrived now.

hey man, you seem to have
pre-deterrmined that we met.

hold on hey hey yeah Jim what's up?

how are you?

Doing pretty good.

Lotus.

um... Locus.

How are you? I'm Jim.

It was inevitable that this combination of the
internet, a television show about paranormal happenings,

and similar ages, would draw
Jim Suerd to Fact or Fiction.

so just to give some, a little background,
you know basically we're going to be doing this

webcast, cablecast in the in search
of the Jersey Devil, the Leeds devil,

down in the Pine Barrens. And basically
why we've gotten you guys together here is

because you have skills regarding audio
and paranormal activity so we're hoping

that you can help us in that way,
and you have these psychic abilities.

Psychic abilities, I feel that I can I can really
help out. I understand what you're trying to do and

I really think that I can help out.

You can help us find
help us find a location.

you can help us tap
into whatever we need.

I can pinpoint that location.

Jim came to me one day and told me how
excited he was that he had met these

people over the Internet. It
was some show, Fact or Fiction,

and he was to be their
guide in the Pine Barrens

and what really amazed
me, I just didn't think

he knew or had any knowledge of the Pine
Barrens to be able to even be a guide.

But he seemed so excited about it.

This... is this good?

Do you want to hold them up or do you

Just like this.

Six Spade.

Seven Spade.

Four Spade.

Five Spade

Eight Club.

Eight Diamond.

I saw him probably about two or
three weeks before the incident.

I ran into him at a shopping mall.

And he was very excited about his life.

He said he was studying acting.

His magic was coming together.
People were appreciating it.

combined with the acting, I guess he did
a few gigs on a small level but it was

it was going very very well.

Give him more ashes.
Give him more ashes.

There's something on his arm.

What does this mean?

I don't know

Back off. Back off.
Are you recording this?

Was Jim psychic?

It was not likely.

The card demonstration,

and the supposed psychic fit, in
which numbers appeared on his arm,

were nothing more than simple tricks.

Known to any amateur magician.

To Steven and Locus, Rein Clackin and Jim
Suerd were perfect for Fact or Fiction.

Youthful, eager and strange.

On December 15th 1995, Steve Avkast,
Lous Wheeler, Rein Clackin and Jim Suerd

headed for the Pine Barrens of
New Jersey to do a live broadcast

in search of the Jersey Devil.

Jim Suerd would be
the only one to return.

nine-one-one what
is your emergency?

My name is Jim Suerd and I just hitchhiked
here from the middle of Pine Barrens.

and I can't seem to get
- I can't seem to find the people that I was in the Pine Barrens with

with an us camping with him
last night doing a project.

Are you lost?

I'm not I'm not lost I'm just trying to
I can't find the people who drove me here.

and you know I looked around for them
and I went back to the site where we

had parked and they're not at the van
and they're nowhere to be found like I

don't know where they are.

Their vehicle is still there?

The vehicle is still there.

and I had to hitchhike to this payphone.

How far are you from
the vehicle right now?

I'm about five five, somewhere, you know
- five ten miles from it. I don't know.

Okay Jim, we'll send someone out.

After mr. Suerd made the call, we went to the area
that he specified and did a preliminary look around,

under a missing-persons investigation.

I mean I just figured that was one of the little stints
to do just to try to get that extra sensationalism.

so I I didn't think
anything of it at first.

You know I kind of expected
them to try something like that.

We have a 187. Repeat, we have a 187.

This isn't a missing
person's report anymore.

912?

We're clear. Do you
need emergency support?

No. This guy's definitely DOA.

One body we found approximately
2.5 miles from the campsite.

The other body, we found approximately
three miles from the campsite.

The body of Steven
Avkast was never found.

Large amounts of blood in the snow and a hat
were all that remained of this third victim.

In any murder investigation, anybody
associated with the victims is a suspect.

our job is to eliminate suspects based
on the evidence that we sift through and

that we gather, and as we sifted through
and gathered this evidence there was

only one suspect left at the
end and that was mr. Jim Suerd.

Who led everybody to the site?

I did.

Did anybody else know where you
were going to set up and camp?

Well, I was asked to uh,
to find a place to camp.

And I thought that I was doing a good job
at it and Rein continued to provoke me and uh

and then give me a hard time about
my ability to locate the place

that we would camp and ultimately just good led
to an argument and I ran away from the group.

Did you hit him first?

I don't know, I might have pushed him.

Sometimes I can't
remember if I, you know.

I ran away from group and I found the spot I
thought would be good to locate the Jersey Devil.

After we got the permission from
the state of Pennsylvania to search

Mr. Suerd's residence, we went to his
residence and we did conduct a search

for anything that we felt would help
us in this case and we did find the

garments that mr. Suerd
was wearing that night,

with the blood of the
three victims on it.

Interestingly, the garments that
mr. Suerd was wearing were merely

lying right on his bedroom floor, along
with the other dirty laundry that was there.

Even as Jim was arrested, the evidence
continued to mount against him.

We could tell that the nature of the
blows with the weapons that were used

were consistent with the
size and build of the accused.

In this case it was very clear that the attacker was
using both hands with two weapons and was ambidextrous.

And the suspect in this case is
ambidextrous, which is quite rare.

He was the only survivor in
the place where nobody else was.

It doesn't look that good for him.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

we will show that on December 15th 1995,
Jim Suerd maliciously and with premeditation

killed Rein Clackin and Locus Wheeler.

We will show, without doubt, how he
planned this well in advance of that day.

We will show, with video shot by the deceased, that
Jim Suerd was, and is, a devious and cunning person.

using the guise of psychic to
perpetrate these horrible acts.

The proceedings that summer turned out to be one of
the greatest spectacles of Baroake County history.

The trial attracted a strange
assemblage of cult followers,

ritual homicide fanatics and others
seeking to satisfy their morbid curiosity.

Eventually, it became a matter of
trying to keep the tabloid at bay.

An effort which was
not entirely successful.

When the court case came up,
the media frenzy was hysterical.

I felt like they were you -- somebody
was watching me like every minute.

They were talking to everybody, everybody who
had the slightest thing to do with the show.

Who knows, they probably talked to every
single viewer that said they watched the show.

Reporters day in and day out and police
here just taking everything they could;

anything it was every videotape every
prop, and I mean it was ridiculous.

I don't know what they were looking for, all
they were getting was a bunch of bad television.

In an election year, what the prosecution
was looking for was an open and shut case.

And in the state of New Jersey
versus Jim Suerd, they found it.

Not content to leave any stone unturned
they decided to utilize the very video that

Steven Avkast and
Locus Wheeler had shot.

The man, who would later by the press come to be known
as the killer cutter, was hired to go through this video.

and put together an
incriminating image of Jim Suerd.

The prosecution contacted
me in early January 1996.

They had a pretty good case against
him, it seemed to me from what I saw.

They had blood evidence, they'd found the
blood and you know this was the only guy there.

And he was the only one
that knew where it was.

But they wanted to clinch this case.

They didn't want, they
really wanted to get him.

They didn't want any there to be
any question that he had done it.

So they can't that came to me with all
this videotape, like 15 hours of videotape.

And this was video that these guys who
did this cable show had shot on location.

I'd never really edited anything
like I mean I'd never seen

anything like this before, I mean this
was like video from the crime scene.

And normally, you know, I've got,
you know, hours and hours of people

talking heads like, you know in
some room somewhere badly shot.

This was badly shot but at least
it was out in the woods, you know.

It was different.

The prosecution's video
was intended to show facts.

Perhaps, not inadvertently, it also
created an intimacy with the murdered three,

that the defense was unhappy with.

They protested it, deeming it an
unfair swaying towards a guilty verdict.

This was not enough reason for the video
to be struck down and so it was used.

The first point demonstrated that Jim was indeed leading
the group into very remote regions of the Pine Barrens.

Areas where there was no hope for
help or aid from the civilized world.

the following represents excerpts

from the first section
of the prosecution video.

Over 54 minutes of video showing the for
wandering deeper into the pines was shot.

It is estimated that the four walked for more than two hours
before Jim finally decided upon the location of their operations.

Hey guys he's starting to go to
go. Let's get the stuff together.

so what's the deal Jim?

Something's come right through here.

When Jim finally found the perfect
location, it was more than three miles

from their van and the
nearest access road.

The second point was to make evident a
defendant who had an agenda an agenda.

An agenda warped enough
to commit these murders.

I've been contacting the
supernatural world for the last week.

last couple days I've been in contact getting
my spiritual self together this journey.

we've we've put put ourselves out on and

we are headed in the right
direction, I can assure you.

I can feel it. It's a gut
instinct in my body that -

we're going to find the Leeds devil -

and we're going to settle
this case, once and for all.

I feel that know what I'm doing here
and for you is perfectly authentic.

I have a feeling inside it's
it's a definite feeling -

we are at a place where with the
Jersey Devil. We will encounter

The Jersey Devil.

I know we're headed
in the right direction.

Repeated phrases such as, "we're going
to settle this thing once and for all"

and "I know we're headed
in the right direction",

seemed to clearly show Jim's agenda.

It didn't take much to
read into these phrases,

and see an individual with a plan that was to
be carried out in the desolate Pine Barrens.

As the prosecution's video progressed,

Jim's personality changed...

from a quiet and shy person,

to one that presented the
prosecution with an opportunity

to show the violent nature
just below the surface.

Look man,

I'll see you back at camp, man!

I don't know what Jim's doing.

I think he's talking
about burning something.

An agenda proven, and a
potential violent streak proven,

the prosecution solidified their first-degree murder
case against Suerd with video taken in the barn.

Video in which the original date
of the trip appeared on Suerd's arm.

The defense attempted to have
this also struck from the records,

claiming the video of Suerd to be
that of a character he was playing.

The prosecution countered by agreeing fully with
this assessment of Suerd and the events in the barn.

events that had taken place a
full two weeks before the trip;

the best argument for
premeditated murder.

The trip began at sunrise.

Steven ran a videocamera
much of the time,

documenting what should have been
amusing but banal preparation.

Locus, do you wanna do a blurb about?

Yeah, I'll do it.

yeah but I'm getting light...
the backlight's killing your face.

What do you mean the
backlight's killing my face?

Why don't you adjust it?
What do you mean you can't?

okay you ready? Okay, we're here
at Rein's barn, and we're getting...

Come on, I'm trying to
get at this on camera...

The trip, guided by Jim, took them into
the loneliest of areas on a lonely cold

Here's to you, Steven.

A stop at a gas station was
the last obvious landmark,

before they moved into the
unidentifiable roads of the Pine Barrens.

at a certain point, at Jim's request,

they stopped, parked and started

walking into the woods.

following the psychic visions of Suerd.

He's gonna do it this is part of the show
we gotta do it in a place he thinks is right.

Because if we're gonna find something

yeah we could fake it,
but I don't go for that.

I think we should go for real

and he's off doing his thing
that's why we got him here.

We knew this would be it. We knew, we all talked
about. We knew we were going to be way out here.

Here he comes. Let's see what he says.

Where did you get this guy from anyway?

Psychics R US?

I think this is a pretty good idea.

Us waiting around and then him finding the spot
you know and then taking the stuff over to it.

Yeah we still gonna go back
to the car and get stuff, man.

I don't think he even knows that.
Is he volunteering? I don't think so.

Well, I know he's not carrying too much.
But you know what he said about that...

it's a vibe thing.

Tensions increases as they work further

into the forsaken Pines. And then a key
point in the prosecution video arrives.

Jim... are you a psychic or a psycho?

Look man! I'll see you back at camp!

Approximately one hour later, judging
from the Sun, a camp is being built.

Discussions are already
being had about Suerd.

Suerd is not helping.

He's keeping to himself.

For the next two hours, the video of the
group is a collection of promotions for

future cable shows; the camera
frequently left on between takes.

This is Locus reporting from the
Pine Barrens and I'm with Rein.

our sound man. Gee,
Rein I'm pretty parched.

I sure am, too.

Wow is that is that mulberry

natural spring water?

Yes from Mueller's.

Wow, how about
- I wish I could have a

sparkling glass of that.

Boy I'm telling you and in a gallon jar.

Jug

the mood is good.

Let's do that again.

Jim does not join them, instead
staying in the tent on IRC.

I don't really feel like I'm being taken
very seriously, by really any of you.

I'm taking you seriously.
We set up here you know.

I'm doing what what I do and

I don't appreciate being laughed at.

Well it's just a stress thing.

Look we're gonna be going on in a bit.
You gonna come out for the broadcast?

I think that I'll probably stay in here

Stay on IRC

At 10 p.m. in what will
be the last broadcast,

Fact or Fiction goes live.

This is Johnny

and Locus

and we are live in the Pine Barrens where tonight we
are doing a first ever, internet broadcast, cable...

Jim has been on IRC for
two hours and 30 minutes.

A surveillance camera
records the camp to VHS tape.

It runs for 2 hours before shutting off.

At 1:00 a.m. the last tape in the series of
22 tapes shot by Locus Wheeler and Rein Clackin

reaches its end.

Man, this thing's still on.
What the hell's going on?

Oh, I must have left it
on. we should change tapes.

Did you change tapes? Here,
I'm gonna change tapes in this.

There is no indication
that this is done.

No other footage exists.

The tape show a group of men going
through a wide range of emotions.

seemingly enjoying their
jaunt into the pine barrens.

The tape shows the brooding nature of one
man who does not share in the frivolity.

The tapes do make clear the
maladjusted nature of Jim Suerd.

Though Suerd maintained his
innocence, the facts were indisputable.

Four people went into the Pine
Barrens, only Jim returned.

Blood of all three was
found on on Jim's shirt.

Pushing Rein showed a
potential violent streak.

The angle and depth of the cuts and lacerations
matched somebody of his height and weight

and more importantly
ambidextrous nature.

the number, which closely matched

the date of the murders appearing
through ashes on his arm, was deemed to

be a good case for premeditated murder.

The tape showing the four walking
further and further into the woods,

virtually guaranteed a
seclusion from civilization;

civilization that would
make the killing easier.

the defense's one victory was

getting a third charge of murder,
the murder of Steven Avkast, dropped.

Though a body is not necessarily
needed to prove a murder,

the prosecution had more than enough
evidence with the two bodies that were found.

on July 16th 1996

Jim Suerd was found guilty on
two counts of first degree murder.

He was sentenced to two life
terms to be served consecutively.

Went out with little Sadie and I shot it down, come back
home, crawled into bed with a.44 pistol under my head.

I think the whole trial was a
kangaroo court of sorts, a pig circus.

I mean it's there the police
obviously didn't do their homework.

They're not investigating
to the best of their ability,

because there has to be -

There has to be some evidence indicating
somebody else or something else.

The case they built up against
him, it was all circumstantial.

They didn't have any actual evidence that he
did this but I mean he was the only one there.

They really had no one else to go on.

I don't consider having the blood of

victims all over your
clothes as circumstantial.

I mean that's pretty hard evidence as
far as I'm concerned. You don't get blood

on your clothes from a murder
victim, you know, just out of the air.

I mean, you have to be there conducting those
murders to get that blood on your clothes.

I don't consider that
circumstantial in the least.

and I can't explain
that I can't explain why

there would be blood on my shirt.

would you agree that it looks bad?

Excuse me?

Would you agree that things don't
look very good for you right now?

I don't, I don't the way that you're telling
me it doesn't look that good for me but I

can't understand where
this evidence came from.

The evidence of blood on Jim's shirt
was a strong point for the prosecution.

DNA tests showed

indisputably that it was the blood of the
three that had gone into the woods with Suerd.

As I look at the images of DNA patterns
and pools of blood, I wonder though

if perhaps the jury anxious not to ignore
DNA evidence as it happened in other trials.

perhaps looked too closely.

Through the magnifying glass of the
prosecution's microscope, the evidence was solid.

However a macroscopic view
begged another question.

Could the master of this
orgy of violence have walked

away from his work with merely the equivalent
of 17 I drops of blood on his shirt...

and nothing else?

you know, every piece of
evidence they would get

they'd try to tie it
somehow, instead of thinking

okay well gee, does this have
anything to do with something else

would always take a
piece of evidence and go -

well gee how could Jimmy have used this?

and it's kind of like,
after a while, it's

like building up a house of cards

they just kept building up building up
and eventually they had enough built up

to get a case against him.

I wasn't really monitoring
there conduct outside of camp.

I was doing my thing.

what were you doing?

I was on the IRC.

In the tent?

Yeah.

All night?

all night

About what time did you start on IRC?

Probably around that 8:30

When we we've interviewed
some of the individuals

that mr. Suerd claimed to have been
talking with on IRC that evening,

and we've looked at their logs as well, too
- their

their uh their chat logs from
their from their computers,

and we have determined

that there was about a 45 minute gap
between when mr. Suerd made one comment

to when he made the next comment.

and 45 minutes is an
awfully long time to not

be responding to other
people on the Internet.

They say this the the signal
signal dropped out so you know Jim

could have walked away and I
guess that that is possible...

It is possible, yes.

You don't necessarily have to
be a world-class sprint runner -

to cover that that amount
of ground in 45 minutes.

In a way I have to raise doubts of this
one guy doing all that to these bodies.

The the murdered pair, they
were darlings of the media.

It was one of the reasons they jumped on this
whole thing so quickly and had to come up with

a conclusion of what happened was
just that: it was their very own.

As professionals in law enforcement, we do
not feel the pressure from outside sources,

be at the media or otherwise
to conduct our investigations.

We conduct them to to the best
of our ability at all times.

There were no other suspects to
apprehend or to interview or to consider.

All the evidence pointed that
Mr. Suerd was the only suspect

and therefore all we
had to do was gather

the evidence to prove mr. Suerd's guilt. We did not
have to gather evidence to gather other suspects.

On January 2nd, 1997, an event occurred that forced
me to rethink the making of this documentary -

the very thesis with which
I had begun the journey.

Jim Suerd was found dead in
his jail of undetermined causes.

On January 3rd, a package arrived at
my door which I think in no way was

coincidental with the
death of Jim Suerd.

The acquiring of mysterious video tape has changed
the mood behind the making of this documentary.

Gone is the attempt to pure
objectivity with which we started.

Now we question, who gave us this tape?

And more importantly, what, if
any information, does it hold

that was never brought up in the trial?

Going to the authorities with this
new tape is pondered but rejected.

To them the case is closed and with
Jim's death, appeals are a moot point.

Nothing is ruled out.
The tape could be a hoax.

I am conscious of one thing though.

My search for the truth behind
the Fact or Fiction murders

has in some way become
part of the story.

There was this discussion
on the last tape that

they were going to change tapes. But
whether that ever happened or not...

I don't know.

I didn't see any other tapes
and from what I saw of the camera

it was pretty damaged. So if
there was any tape in there...

I doubt that it ever could be played.

My name is Michele Monarch.

I'm a magnetic media
data recovery specialist.

The particular videotape that I was given
was mangled almost beyond recognition.

I digitized sections of
this particular video,

placed it into the computer and am now
reconstructing the actual picture frame by frame.

and I have to guide the computer
to complete these pictures

there was some that were
easily captured by the computer.

Others were unrecognizable, and I'm
rebuilding them now at this time.

As the tape is reassembled by Shelly,

it becomes apparent that some
sections are rather viewable.

And I'll say, yeah I'm here, you know. I'm here
while Locus is out hunting for the Jersey Devil.

And I'll be like, "ah, shut up"

Yeah, you can be like,
"I don't see him."

No, no, we better not do that because,
we've got to deliver on this show.

This is the big one here.

Okay are we ready there, Rein?

Do you want me to still be
rolling on this stuff, Steven?

Do you want to state that that whole
thing. I think I kind of could hear you.

I've been rolling the camera just
messing around shooting camp stuff but

could you
- what was the deal with

I don't care if he hears this or not.
don't I mean this is never gonna make it

anything but the cutting room floor as they
would say film days. From what Sam was saying.

Sam, boy even
he was ---

I don't want to be
like a bitch all night.

I'm going to take a walk out into the
woods and do a scout out of the location.

I also have to go the bathroom.

Get on the trumpet, do that sound.

Newark's doing its thing.

Yeah, I know the airplanes
from Newark. but eah we got

we got a little bit from that one machine going, but I
want to see you working for the reason you're out here.

And Locus, come on, 1R
144 double X awaits you.

Do some work, man!

Sure Steven, Anything you say, big guy.

I'll be back in about ten minutes.

Hey, do me a favor and
switch that machine on.

There goes a little tyrant.

here, come on I got the camera roll
and do a Steven imitation for me.

Oh no I'm talking about Steven being a pussy
I'm not talking about Jim being a pussy.

Jim's one psycho mother fuck-kahh..

He's scary, man.

Let me get that on camera.

that thing isn't running, is it?

Of course it's running. We're
supposed to record everything.

give me a Jim
- why don't you do that line that you said..

What did you think when he pushed you?

Iwas a little bit... I don't know was
weird and kind of it freaked me out, man.

I didn't really expect him to
be violent. I thought it was like

see that's what I don't get,
man. He's like totally like

I thought he was like one of those guys like you know
those peace, fucking meditation dudes or something....

Following these recorded moments, a
large portion of the tape is smashed.

It is a section that Shelley
will attempt to restore.

The next section that is immediately viewable,
happens somewhere in the middle of the tape.

The first thing that is apparent is
that this is tape shot by Locus and Rein.

Steven is nowhere to be seen.
They are searching for him.

on her third day of restoration
shelley makes another discovery.

The anonymous tape is not
from one, but two cameras.

Both Rein and Locus took
cameras into the forest.

Let me get the light up here.

This is fact or fiction.

we can't find Steven.

Here we are in the Pine Barrens on
a trip that he drug us out here for.

We did a webcast, simulcast, cast cast cable
cast that really was pretty poor if you ask me.

But that doesn't matter at this point
because Steven, our main host, is missing.

Johnny. Johnny. Johnny love is gone.

He's gone and we can't find him.

All I want to do is drink some beer.

see this is for you Steven. Even
though we don't know where you are,

we just want you to know that we're being
really loyal to this whole "shoot everything".

In the sixth day of her work, Shelly
puts together a stunning piece of tape.

It is a moment in time
that proves so much.

Footprint... I think
it goes off this way.

Do you see anything over there?

He's been gone for a while.

Do you know what time it is?

It's I think it's late it's like,

Two... Forty Five.

Rein and Locus were alive

and speaking the time to one another
and they were supposed to be being killed

and they're alive and they're
saying the time on the video.

To me that proves that

Jim absolutely was not
killing them at that time.

Jim is an innocent man and this was not
investigated in any way shape or form.

It was overlooked. So many
details were overlooked.

Also if he's an innocent man,

there's a killer on the loose.

Shelly's work slowly
gives voices to the dead.

Ghosts caught on video.

why is he acting so weird?

I feel weird about it.

I feel weird about it. why didn't. you
try to stop him going into the woods.

The processing of the tape is quickly
becoming more difficult for Shelley.

Now only bits and pieces tell the
story of what happened in the woods.

On February 5th, Shelley presents a section of
videotape that is nothing short of horrifying.

It intensifies the question
of who the killer is.

On February 7th Shelley finds what she thinks
is the same moment in time from Locus's camera.

It cannot however be viewed.

She remains hopeful as she begins the
process of trying to reconstruct a lost video.

The computer needs me to direct it. It
doesn't know how to reconstruct a circle.

maybe it would have an opening at the side
and I have to teach it to continue the circle.

I'm a guiding factor.

While Shelley begins the process
of attempting to restore video,

I will attempt to find a truth
within the film I have already shot.

In sitting there waiting for these
video edits to render, I did wonder about

certain aspects of the case...

Sometimes I wonder, am
i doing the right thing?

Did this guy do it?

It seemed to me, from all what I saw,
that you know it was pretty likely

that he did it.

I mean you had the blood
evidence and stuff like that,

But there was that the one guy
that they never found his body.

What happened to him? I mean,
could he have done it? I don't know.

It is an obvious question.

A question I had presented
to all the people interviewed.

The tape restoration is showing
Locus and Rein searching for Steven,

which only makes the
question more relevant.

What happened to Steven Avkast?

By process of elimination, I proceed.

We did find some blood and of course
the infamous Johnny hat that was found.

We were never able to
find any more remains.

of that person so we don't
know if he's dead or alive.

They never found Steven's body, Johnny
- but they found his hat.

So, I mean, I don't know. it's just weird
that the only thing left of him is...

a hat?

All right I'll be back in about ten minutes.
okay man, I'll be on that before we get back

we don't think that Mr. Avkast would be able to set
up mr. Suerd because the amount of blood that we found

Of Mr. Avkast is so great that he would have
bled to death trying to set Mr. Suerd up.

There goes the little tyrant.

oh whoa

check it out. Shine that over there.

Oh Wow, what's that?

I don't know, man.

Looks like a light.

Yo, it's Steven's light. Yo Steve!

Steven!!!

In finding that Jim's alibi holds up, we
have to attempt to answer the question raised:

who killed these people?

The likely suspect would
appear to be Steven.

As I watch these frames though, I
see no recognition in Locus's face.

I see Locus, a man larger
than Steven, turn tail and run.

As does Rein.

Steven Avkast, being the culprit of the horrendous massacre
that took place in the minutes that follow this tape

is impossible to believe.

Aong with the amount of blood
that belongs to Steve Avkast,

this makes me believe that he also
was murdered in the Pine Barrens.

I am now also of the belief

that the killer was somehow something
more horrendous than possible to imagine.

what could have killed
three healthy men?

What would have left no footprints?

What would have torn the men into forty seven
pieces,leaving no evidence of a struggle?

We could tell by what was a left in
the infliction of the wound that it was

a serrated type weapon,
that much we know.

there were noknife fragments or

any evidence of the actual weapon used
other than the cuts themselves well

We're a rural County, we have
people who are not greatly educated.

Rumors and folklore are common.

I put no credence in
anything of that nature.

I just go by the facts that the
police are able to ascertain.

A monster?

Yeah, I think this person's
a monster. I don't believe

fact or fiction. I don't
believe the fiction.

I think this is a person and
I'm gonna find out who it is.

I'm gonna reconstruct and do my job to
recover what has been lost -- the facts.

it is as though the Jersey Devil is
a monster reborn in a digital age.

Reborn on the Internet.

a demon captured on IRC logs,
mangled video, whispers in the dark.

It is to these that I look.

it's totally anonymous I
mean you can't trace a call

You don't know if it's
man, woman, old, young.

you don't know anything you
don't know where it's from.

I mean in one way I don't know

why the cops didn't try to do
anything you know and try to figure out

Well who made that idea? Who
came up with that suggestion?

Why don't you do a show
about the Jersey Devil?

we have this show Fact or Fiction.

It's a paranormal variety show.
you know we have guests come on,

That kind of thing. Well, things have
kind of been a little slow over at station,

the station so we thought what we would
do is we'd we'd make a little excursion

there was a suggestion, via IRC,.....

and also to the mail bag.

Yeah.

That guy, D something.
Whatever his name was.

One thing about IRC
really hard is that -

It really is hard to trace it because,
I mean, it's not like like you know

the phone number they're calling from.

I mean this could
have been like Shanghai

where they were writing
this message from.

You just don't know.

That's part of the beauty
and part of the evil of it.

it is amazing to be so near

yet so far from the possibility
of knowing who the killer is.

D something.

we thought what we would do

is we'd we'd make a little excursion.
there was a suggestion, via IRC, to -

and also from that mail bag.

yeah

that guy D something
whatever his name was.

it's just not practical to keep logs to
that stuff. I get so much email, so much

it would just clog up my system. I erased
it as we went along. I mean, once a job

once a point got finished I
killed the email, got rid of it.

it was it was like a to-do list.

I check it off, I get rid of this stuff.

So, once things weren't pertinent
anymore, I just get rid of them.

So I don't have anything of it really.

I mean there there were like a couple of
emails that we had at the very end there

But there's nothing illuminating there.

it gets harder and harder to stick
with your original gut feeling.

Because of the media, you know. The
attention that the whole case is getting,

how one-sided, lopsided the whole
thing is. and you start to think,

maybe

Maybe he did do it. Maybe there's
a side of Jim that I don't know that

that was capable of such atrocity.

As this journey nears its end,

I begin to fully understand the
essence of what this is about.

the media upon which
these events were recorded.

the media that should have
been able to provide a truth

more pure than ever before,
has somehow become the story.

This has become more than a search for the
truth behind the Fact or Fiction murders.

it has become an indictment of truth and how
it is viewed through the lens of the media.

Pretty exciting moment here because
the fact or fiction logo is on screen

which means one thing.

that we are now actually getting our

feed live to the cable company

Reality television, the news,

The 60-second clip of truth, have made
even the strongest of doubters wonder...

Are you a psychic or a psycho?

Look man I'll see you back at camp.

What did you say to him?

wait what do you mean he's gonna be where
we can't go -- Where the hell is the camp?

this is the whole fucking thing
where the hell is the camp?

We can't lose him.

well, we're losing him.

go find a man I'm not gonna go
anywhere near him fucking asshole, man.

just cut the damn camera already.

What is the truth? The editing process
- it's like sifting that stuff out

ultimately, I mean not necessarily
with these legal videos, but with a

documentary film, I mean ultimately it's
what the filmmaker perceives as the truth.

I mean, don't you think
- that's what you're trying to do right?

The mistakes that were discovered
on this journey were stunning.

shoddy police work
and a judgmental video

presented the world with a person
guilty before ever being tried.

I know Jim is not guilty.

I know that the truth is still at large,

potentially closer
than anyone can realize.

it is as though the real killer planned
a media event so amazingly cunning

that it could be thought of as scripted.

A kill ready for primetime, so to speak.

Perhaps the demon we call the Jersey
Devil did kill them in the Pine Barrens.

But if so, the Jersey Devil
is the electronic image,

the sound

The communication to the masses,

Somehow twisted into a
surrealist electronic world.

I always asked the question
last: Do you Jim did it?

And with the exception of authorities
directly accountable to the answer,

I have felt that the answer given has been
- it doesn't matter.

The truth is what time
has made of this event.

it has been good for
business. Often murder is.

so many involved
benefited from this event.

The inevitable book deal is being replaced
with a career in the business of image control.

And most of the people interviewed
are ready to embrace it.

I guess a grim irony here,
as these post-its can attest,

the fact that when we have some real dead
bodies, then the sharks start circling.

Strange that an incident
like that would be a prelude

to a new phase in my career.

It's interesting, after
the court case was over

with all the publicity and everything
surrounding it, you know, I started

getting the phone calls for a couple job
leads. I mean, you know, so in one way,

This might have helped me out of here.

How long will it take to
process the entire tape?

it's not my intention to
process the whole tape.

I don't need to do that.

it could take hours, it could take days.

I need to process a
particular piece of tape

that could potentially reveal a killer.

Shelley continues to extrapolate
information from a frame

While I will reenact the
events of December 151995

This is one of the stops that the guys
made on the way to the pine barrens.

I know this because of the extensive documentary
footage that they had taken take of this place.

I don't know what good this will do.

I think it's just to keep
myself clear on wha happened.

You know the order of events.

Strangely the weather is almost
identical to the way it was that day.

I'm now travelling an access route
that I know Steven and Locus had taken.

for the Jersey Devil Project.

We're in the midst of the
Pine Barrens at this point.

and what I'm hoping to do is see if I
can't do a recreation of the campsite,

Perhaps the murder scene.

Hopefully traversing this
won't be too big of a problem.

I'm using this video camera
just as a matter of convenience.

Using film out here with prove
to be logistically too difficult.

Hopefully we can get you some good
footage and really try demonstrate -

The intrepid nature of Steven and Locus.

I feel with some more work
that I will find the killer.

I will see the face of the killer.

This site is a very close approximation
of the one used by Steven and Locus on

the night of the Jersey Devil episode.

They'd chosen a clearing similar to
this one as base camp for the telecast.

When they ventured onto the
Pine Barrens with their cameras,

they would never return alive again.

The documentary footage that generated
on that evening proves irrevocably,

that Jim Suerd was not
responsible for their murders.

That Locus and Rein Clackin were actually
alive at the time they were ostensibly killed.

and that the police
case was shoddy at best.

what is the Jersey Devil?

it's a man wandering into the Pine
Barrens never to be seen again.

It's a mangled animal found
on one of these access roads.

Or perhaps it's something that rests within
our psyche and we'll never truly understand.

I've been on this project for months now
and haven't come to a clear definition

of what actually happened
or who was responsible.

All I know is that it's a mystery
and it may permanently remain so.

What is the Jersey Devil?

I'm now outside of Shelley's studio.

All the media.

all the interviews

the truth comes down to this one frame.

I've determined that this is no time to
be distracted or set aside in the course

of the events that I've set into motion.

My next step will be
going to the Pine Barrens

for a reenactment of the murders of Steven
Avkast and Locus Wheeler and Rein Clackin.

I'm as strong in my resolve as
before and improving that Jim Suerd

was not responsible for these murders.

That he had neither the intellect nor the
logical capacity to carry them through.

I think that the replayment of our events here
will be quite compelling in the demonstration of

Suerd's innocence.

This site is a close approximation of
the one chosen by Steven Locus as the

site of their Fact or Fiction
Jersey Devil broadcast. They'd...

This site is a close approximation of the one chosen by Steven and
Locus as the site of their Fact or Fiction Jersey Devil Broadcast.

They'd chosen a clearing similar
to this one... as base camp

and ventured into the pine barrens
with their cameras... this site....

is a close approximation of the one
chosen by Steven and Locus as the site of

their Fact or Fiction Jersey Devil
Broadcast,.. they'c chosen a similar....

this site is a close approximation....

you